Blockbuster Swings To Loss As Sales Plunge

While Blockbuster could benefit from the closure of rival video rental chain Movie Gallery, it got no relief in Q1, as the company swung to a $65.4 million net loss from a $27 million profit the year before. It’s clear that more nimble rivals like Netflix’s mail-order and download business and Redbox’s kiosks are taking customers away from the brick-and-mortar based Blockbuster (NYSE: BBI).

For now, the best Blockbuster can do is play catch-up. The company has been talking up its alliance with NCR in running 4,000 kiosks, and is increasingly experimenting with downloads, as a way of saying it finally gets where the business is headed. But those efforts will do little to help it make a dent in its huge debt, which has pushed it to the brink of bankruptcy.